These teachings relate generally to the field of commercial and residential security systems and, more particularly to the users ability to remotely access and control, via the Internet, the smart home and security peripheral devices managed by a remote system.
One of the major problems associated with current security systems is that all of the functionality associated with the system is centralized in the premises being secured by the system. By having the core operational component and corresponding system functionality centrally located in the monitored premises, it renders the system very susceptible to sabotage thereby making the system potentially disabled once an initial breach occurs. The system might be able to detect a breach into the premises, but once an individual has entered the monitored premises, the breaching individual has access to the entire security system due to its centralized location in the premises being monitored. As such, it is a significant concern, for security purposes, that the operational nature and corresponding functionally protecting a certain location is housed and maintained at the location being monitored.
Other than the limited telephonic communications between the Alarm Manager and a central monitoring station, the conventional art has very limited remote, off-site access. The lack of this remote access requires a technician to travel to the customer's premises to maintain, update and repair the system. These visits can be costly and time consuming, but more importantly, the system can be inoperative while waiting for the technician to address the problem leading to increased vulnerability. This is a significant problem in the current art as many system providers are chained to the telephonic communication system and, as such, are greatly limited in terms of remote access and maintenance.
Furthermore, the existing art requires a trained technician to install and integrate the various smart home and security peripheral devices with the system. Similar to the lack of remote functionality, this process can be very time consuming and cost prohibitive. Additionally, the requirements of a specialized electrical knowledge to access and diagnose the system inhibit its ability to be user friendly and easily maintained without specialized, professional knowledge.
There is therefore a need to provide a security system that allows for remote access, where such remote access shall allow accessibility and interaction with peripheral devices, communication between various peripheral devices, as well as diagnosing and administering the system.
There is a further need to utilize an off-site system where such off-site system contains all of the necessary functionally to allow the system to operate remotely with the various peripheral and access devices.